What's that?

My brother, who is a very nice brother, is a very big Cleveland Browns fan. This might seem odd since my dad and I are both Cincinnati Bengals fans. I asked Eric a while back why he liked the Browns instead of the Bengals, and he answered that it was because he wanted to be different, that he wanted to like a different team than the rest of the family.

And so he chose the Browns. Obviously that doesn't make too much of a big difference, considering both teams have endured long periods of crappy play.

Anyway, because the Bengals beat the Browns yesterday, Eric lost a bet with a friend who is a Cincy fan. Eric must now wear this friend's Bengals jersey to work.



To help out this friend of Eric's in enjoying the victorious bet, I give you this crappy quality photo of my brother and me at a very young age. It might take a little bit of squinting, but I'm sure you can figure out which team's helmet is on the jacket that my brother is wearing.

Who Dey, indeed.

Rat B@stards

The "little rodent things that chew" are back in my engine with a vengeance this week.

Yes, that's right, only a week after the first repair shop fix of the delicious-to-rodent wires, my "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" light popped back on yesterday.

Back at the shop this morning, the mechanics tell me the same thing.

"Those guys are back!" the mechanic laughed over the phone.

"Oh god, you're kidding me," I answered.

"Nope, and they did more damage this time. Hopefully we can repair it."

"Okay, this is crazy. I don't understand why they're not leaving my engine alone. Is there any way to keep them out of there?" I asked him.

"Looks like it's time to buy a cat," he laughed again.

Right, I thought. Like my fat-assed-emotional-eater-of-an-indoor cat, Tuesday, would make much difference. She'd probably work with them to find food. I'd find her curled up in the engine block purring, with wires in her mouth.

But that didn't matter.

"I have a cat, except that she remains indoors. And besides that, I don't park my car in a garage. I park on the street because I have no garage."

"Well then I don't know how to keep them out of your engine, I'm sorry," he sympathized.

You stupid damn rats, stay out of my engine. I've had a few suggestions thrown my way on keeping them out of my engine - from putting Decon blocks in my engine to spraying it down with some sort of predator-like urine stuff to frighten them away from my car. Wonderful, nothing like having a car that smells of "Bobcat urine!!!"

Anyway, I have a feeling the rats are finally waging some revenge on me after I took away their once cushy home in our outside basement staircase drain this past summer. I even cemented a drain grate on there myself after shovelling out way too much dirt and rat leavings. They got the hint, and while it took them some time to craft a plan (maybe they were lulling me into a false sense of security), they're acting on it now.

The one suggestion I will try is one suggested by the employee of an Advance Auto Parts store I called. He suggested mixing an ammonia and water solution and spraying that on and around my vehicle, because that will keep all critters away from it. Here's hoping it works.



Moving on from rat invasions, I had a nice weekend. I went hiking on Saturday and am feeling it today.

That's because once the wife and I reached the top of our hike, this was the view.







We ascended quite the hill, working enough random muscles to be paying for it for a few days. But the view was very much worth it. There were plenty of rocks to climb on, mud puddles to slog through and birds to watch.








This photo is a view from the bottom looking up. If it weren't a crappy cell phone, you'd be able to see the two climbers taking the hard way up. I love rock climbing, but I can't imagine doing a path that long and scary. I'm still a beginner and while I have some sense of adventure and challenge when I climb, this rock face is more of an adventure than I want right now.



Oh, and Saturday also ruled because Ohio State beat Michigan. My brother sent me photos of him also storming the field and taking some turf - which is now in a pot in his living room. He's already asked me if I'd like a piece to plant in my front yard so I can say I have a little bit of Ohio Stadium in my yard. I'm very tempted.

Saw this amazing book the other day at a used bookstore. I didn't check the copyright date in it, but I'm assuming it's not from a recent decade.

People were a little more blunt then, you know?

"You know, the one with stripes."

The "service engine soon" light came on in my car on the way to work yesterday. I was shocked for two reasons:

#1- I never knew my car even had one of those lights. It's a '95, which I thought was before the time they made those lights. It's never come on in my car before, ever. Seriously.

#2- It meant that something huge and horrible and major was wrong.

That saddened me. I love my car. It's now almost 12 years old with 125K miles on it. I took the light to mean that it was time for it to fail - if I'd never seen it come on before now, surely this time meant the engine was only moments away from a final spectacular death.

I had noticed that when the light was on, the coolant temp gauge was not working, so I wondered if the radiator was to blame. I at least mentioned that to the mechanics when I dropped it off - while I also mentioned the following:

"By the way - my Saturn is the black one out there. I noticed you have a white one of the same year and model."

The mechanic made note of it. There's a reason I passed on this information. Last spring I took the car in to have a clunking sound checked out. The mechanic called several hours later to give me the longest list of repairs I'd ever heard. It involved failing brakes, a poor suspension system and so much more. I was in shock, I'd never noticed half the things he'd mentioned (like a majorly bouncing car due to poor shocks).

I stammered through a conversation with the guy, who ended it with, "Honestly, this thing's maybe got a year left in it, it's on its last legs."

In shock, I told him I'd have to call the wife to discuss the potential fixes with her. I thought, "This sounds like he's not even talking about my car - like he's looking at some other car." I told the mechanic again that I'd never noticed any of the symptoms he'd described, but it was pointless.

The next morning I get a call from the mechanic that cleared things up.

"Um, as it turns out, um, your car is fine. What happened yesterday is that there were two almost identical Saturns in our lot - one with a huge amount of repair work to be done and then yours. Yours is fine. There's nothing wrong with it. We made one little tightening of a bolt and it's fixed. No charge. Um, the other Saturn obviously has worse news, but it's not yours."

I laughed really hard, glad that they hadn't started any work on my vehicle incorrectly as a further mistake. Then I felt bad for the owner of the other car - who'd gotten the bad end of those two phone calls.

Anyway - that's why every time I bring it in now, I tell them the color and license plate number.

Moving on, yesterday's repair shop story was odd as well. After taking it in that afternoon, they called several hours later with the verdict - a rather humorous one at that.

Mechanic: "The wires to your coolant temp gauge and your thermostat are all chewed up. We're trying to repair them, but we might have to replace them."

Me: "So you're saying some type of rodent or something chewed up the wires?"

Mechanic: "Yup."

Me: "Like a rat? Would a rat do that?"

Mechanic: "Well, it's probably smaller than that."

Me: "A mouse?"

Mechanic: "No, um - it's the one between those two. It's a different size than that. Um..."

Me: "A squirrel?"

Mechanic: "No. Man - what are those things called? They're between rats and mice in size...ah....damn..."

Me: "A mole?"

Mechanic: "Nope, damn, what do you call those things... (holds phone away from his head to yell at his fellow mechanics)... HEY GUYS! GUYS! What do you call those little rodent things that chew? (unintelligible chatter) No no, not that. Smaller. With stripes..... Yeah! A chipmunk! (puts the phone back against his head) Chipmunks will do that."

And so I might have chipmunks enjoying my sweet sweet thermostat wires. Chip and Dale are bastards.

In any case, at least the engine didn't decide to die on me now. Long live Saturn!

Thank you, Pennsylvania

For this:
Casey beats Santorum

I watched the returns last night (and still today) with a big smile on my face. Let's hope the Democrats won't embarrass themselves with this new leadership they now have in Congress. It's time to lead instead of flounder and whine.

Also, just wanted to put this in print so I can point to it later on - I think NY's Spitzer will run for president in 2008. I've thought that since he's been suing the crap out of companies in high profile cases as the state's Attorney General for years.

Songs I'm digging right now

Boy, who thought Nelly Furtado's music stylings could change so much from one album to the next? In any case, I'm loving two songs off her new album, "Say it right" and "Maneater." I recommend them.

Other digs currently playing on my Juke Blog:

"Remind Me" by Royksopp, as featured in this silly Geico caveman commercial.
"Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. Yeah it's emo, but whatever, I like it.

I'm also stuck on some older songs that I've remembered recently. Songs like

-"Regulators" by Warren G and Nate Dogg
-"Gin and Juice" by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre
-"Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest (yes, I'm in a rap mood)
-"Anna Begins" by the Counting Crows (off their first and only good CD)
-"Perfect Blue Buildings" by the Counting Crows (same CD)
-"If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys
-"Sour Girl" by Stone Temple Pilots
-"Something Stupid" by Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman
-"How It Ends" by Devotchka

Yeah, I listen to most everything. Also, you folks might like the Juke Blog thing. You can listen to other people's music and not have to buy anything. No, it's not illegal because you're not downloading anything. You're just listening to music that they've uploaded. So don't worry about the RIAA coming after you.

Hypocrisy

Okay, it hasn't been proven 100% yet, but I still can't help loving news like this:

Evangelist Steps Down Amid Gay Sex Claim

What goes around comes around, folks. I love how the pastor calls the whole thing political. Of course it's political, you ass, the guy brought it up because you've been one of the biggest outspoken haters of anything related to gay marriage! You're spear-heading a campaign to pass a ban on gay marriage in Colorado which is on next week's ballot. You're damn right it's political.

Enjoy it, hypocrite.

Halloween

We got to do our first trick-or-treating experience this past Tuesday, and it was very cool. It was fun to really feel a part of the neighborhood and see all the kids running around. We saw some great costumes, but one took the prize for the best one that night because of just what the kid said.

I saw this young gal walking up our sidewalk, maybe she was seven or eight years old. Anyway, she was all decked out in a sparkly gold dress and a blonde wig and heels. Looked almost like a Marilyn Monroe costume. Anyway, as this gal is walking up our steps, the father of the kids who'd just been on our porch yelled up at the kid, "Hey - that's a pretty looking gal there!"

In response, the Marilyn Monroe gal turned around at the top of our steps and yelled at full volume, "I'M A DUDE!"

Then he casually turned back around and said to me, "Trick or treat."

And that kid, my friends, got a handful of candy and a "You get extra because you're a brave kid. Good for you!" from me.